Complications
by hufflepuff625
Summary: Nothing seems to be going right for Clarke and, of course, Bellamy is a part of it. Just a one shot set during season one with some Bellarke cuteness sprinkled in. Thank you to one of my best friends for being my beta!


**Author's note: I can't seem to get these two out of my head so I'm just going to keep writing about them. As always, I don't own anything you recognize.**

There are some days when nothing seems to go right, when one complication follows another from sun up to sun down, and that was pretty much an accurate description of how Clarke's day was going. If she had realized how crazy her day was going to get when she woke up in the morning, Clarke probably would have just stayed in bed. Of course, nothing was out of the ordinary then, all the signs pointed to this being a usual day on the ground. The complications had started out simple enough with the make-shift infirmary in the drop ship running low on its supply of seaweed. This was easy to fix though, so as soon as the usual cuts and scrapes had been taken care of, Clarke headed toward the gate so she could make a trip to the river. The second complication of the day followed quickly after in the form of Bellamy Blake. He wanted to know what she was doing and why she was heading out of the gate. This complication was solved just as quickly by Bellamy joining Clarke on her trip, since it would be an easy day on the ground before Bellamy let anyone, let alone the closest person they had to a doctor, leave camp alone.

The third complication made itself known at the river when all the seaweed was beyond arm's reach. Luckily, Clarke had anticipated this problem and had brought a net one of the 100 had made for her. Throwing it out and then pulling it back in, with the rope attached to it, Clarke was able to collect a lot of seaweed without going into the river itself and risking a run in with the giant snake creature Octavia had met on their first day on the ground. Clarke had just finished wrapping up the supplies when the rapid rush of animals announced the forth complication. A quick glance between the pair confirmed what they already knew; the acid fog was coming.

Clarke was about to start running back to camp, but, before she could, Bellamy shouted, "Wait! Follow me."

Trusting that Bellamy knew what he was doing and wasn't stupid enough to lead them to their deaths, Clarke changed directions and rushed after him. A minute of frantic crashing later and Bellamy turned and disappeared behind a curtain of flowers. Stopping suddenly in surprise, Clarke could only look in confusing at the pale yellow petals of the flowers, before Bellamy appeared again, pulling back some of the plants to reveal a cave hidden behind them. "Come on!" Bellamy shouted to her.

Shaking off her confusion, Clarke ducked inside the opening Bellamy had created. As soon as she was inside, he let the flowers fall back into place and both of them leaned against the walls of the cave, catching their breath after their mad dash through the trees. "How'd you find this place?" Clarke asked.

A moment of silence passed before Clarke peered at Bellamy's face in the dim light filling the cave, trying to figure out why he wasn't answering her. Pushing off the wall and taking a step closer, Clarke was able to see a slightly vacant look on Bellamy's face. Features that were usually hard and tight, weighed down by the responsibilities of leading a bunch of teenagers, were more open and relaxed than Clarke had ever thought possible. Bellamy looked so much younger then he usually did, closer to his real age, without that crushing weight. Wary of this sudden change, Clarke hesitantly called, "Bellamy… Bellamy, are you okay?"

At those words, his eyes, which had been unfocused, snapped to attention on Clarke's face and his mouth curved into an honest smile that shocked Clarke more than anything. She had seriously doubted that he ever knew how to smile, considering the fact that he only ever seemed to smirk, but this genuine smile proved without a doubt that Bellamy Blake was very capable of producing a smile. "I'm perfect, Princess," Bellamy told her softly, a bit of a dreamy look coming into his eyes, "I've never felt better."

And that was when the fifth complication to Clarke's day revealed itself because there was no way Bellamy would ever say something like that, without being sarcastic, to anyone besides Octavia. Moving closer to him, Clarke tried to figure out why Bellamy was acting so strange. It soon became apparent that she wasn't going to find anything out though. Every time she tried to find his pulse or see if his pupils were dilated, Bellamy would twist away from her grasp or gaze, his smile still firmly in place as he squirmed like a kid waiting in line. Annoyed with his childishness and slightly worried that he was going to wiggle himself out of the cave and into the acid, Clarke gave up and instead tried to think of anything he might have come across that could have caused this.

Camp and the river were quickly crossed out as places where he could have been exposed considering people have been around those places a lot before and none of them had ever showed the same symptoms Bellamy was exhibiting. Also, the fact that Bellamy was able to lead the two of them to the cave also ruled out camp or the river as possible places, since, considering how he was acting now, Clarke wasn't sure he could walk in a straight line, let alone sprint while remembering the way to a cave they hadn't even marked yet. The only logical place for him to have been exposed to something was the cave, but that didn't explain why Clarke herself wasn't experiencing the same symptoms. Searching her memories, Clarke focused on when they had reached the cave. What had Bellamy done that she hadn't?

Then it hit her; the flowers! Bellamy had touched the flowers to get in and again when he had held them aside so she would come in. Taking a closer look at the plants, Clarke realized that she had never seen them before, which is probably why they hadn't yet realized what they did to people. Knowing more of what she was up against, Clarke was determined to make sure that the flowers didn't have any more adverse side effects. After making sure she was between Bellamy and the exit, Clarke slowly walked over to here he was standing, staring at the cave wall like it was the most interesting thing he had ever seen.

Making sure not to startle him and make him move away again, Clarke waited until she was less than an arm's length away before grabbing onto Bellamy's upper arm, hoping to hold him there long enough to check his pulse. That plan disappeared though as Clarke registered the sticky, wet feeling of blood on her hand. Taking a closer look at where she had grabbed, even as Bellamy made noises of protest, Clarke caught sight of a long cut stretching across his bicep. "Bellamy," Clarke couldn't help but admonish, "Why didn't you tell me you were bleeding?"

A puzzled look crossed Bellamy's features before he looked down at his arm and said, "Oh, there's blood there."

"Yes, **there's blood there** ," Clarke repeated sarcastically.

But Bellamy didn't even reply to her sarcasm, instead he just shrugged his shoulders and told her with an openly honest expression on his face, "I didn't feel it."

That's when it hit Clarke, maybe the flowers actually acted like very strong painkillers and that's why Bellamy's personality had basically reversed itself. Pushing that thought to the side, Clarke refocused on the still bleeding cut on Bellamy's arm. Luckily, it didn't look like it needed stiches. Clarke let go of Bellamy to grab some of the seaweed from her pack. Turning back to her co-leader, she decided to try a different approach. Looking up at him, Clarke asked with her softest, most persuasive voice, "Would you like to sit down? I think it would be nice if you sat down. I'll even sit down with you."

Continuing like that, gently cajoling him like she had seen her mom do when she treated children, Clarke was able to get Bellamy to sit down and let her treat his wound as best she could with the resources she had. But of course, with the state he was in, Bellamy couldn't let her do her work in peace, and she had just barely started when he looked at her and asked, "Did you know you get this little crease in your forehead when you work?"

Before she could even think of a response to that, Bellamy reached over with the arm she wasn't treating and used his thumb to smooth out her forehead. "There, that's better. You shouldn't worry so much Princess; you're going to get wrinkles."

At that Clarke couldn't help but just stare at Bellamy before letting out a small laugh and saying, "You're one to talk about worrying, considering I've never known someone to be more protective then you."

Bellamy frowned a bit at her words, before explaining with a slight slur to his words, "But that's just what I'm supposed to do. My sister, my responsibility. Only now that includes everybody. I can't just let everyone die. But worrying is my job, princesses aren't supposed to worry, so you should stop Princess."

Letting out a scoff, "I can't stop worrying any more then you can, and I'm not a princess, that's just a stupid nickname, as you know very well."

Shaking his head wildly, Bellamy told her, "You're a real princess. No one else besides a princess would be able to be surrounded by this much horror and remain… what's the word, pure… no that's not right… shiny. Yeah, that's what you are. You're shiny Princess; you have this light with you all the time. I don't know where it comes from, but I know I like it. It's a good reminder, almost like my own personal North Star."

Those words, even with the slightly disjointed way they were said, managed to shock Clarke into stopping her movements. She knew that they couldn't do this without each other, they were co-leaders for a reason, but she had never imagined Bellamy thinking anything like this about her. In an effort to hide just how greatly his words affected her, even though she was sure he wasn't lucid enough to notice the blush on her cheeks, Clarke busied herself with working on his bandage as she replied, "I hardly think I'm shiny. I have just as much dirt on me as everyone else."

Bellamy just scoffed at that reply, even in his dopey state he saw right through the smoke screens Clarke put up to hide her feelings. He was remarkably good at that, reading her and her emotions. While that might come in handy when they were trying to make decisions, there were many times, like this one, when Clarke wished Bellamy could be a little worse at figuring her out. After she had finished with his bandage, Clarke was at a loss for what to do. The fog was still going strong and there was no way she could bring Bellamy back to camp when he was acting like this.

Apparently Bellamy did not have a similar loss of purpose, and, before Clarke could even react, he wrapped his arms around her waist and brought them both down until they were lying side by side, creating the forth complication. Clarke froze, her mind going a mile a minute trying to figure out what Bellamy was going to do next. Catching her off guard yet again, Bellamy wiggled a bit to get comfortable and drew Clarke close in his arms like a teddy bear, before mumbling, "'M sleepy."

A moment later, his breathing evened out and it was clear that Bellamy was fast asleep. Clarke couldn't relax though, the last time she had been this close to a boy it had ended with her feeling used and taken advantage of, like sloppy seconds. She tried to pry Bellamy's arms away from her waist, but he only clutched her tighter and, despite her discomfort, Clarke was loath to wake him up. The deep sleep he had achieved in this moment was so rare and Clarke didn't want to take that away. Gradually, one muscle at a time, Clarke was able to relax and fall asleep, gently eased into it by the warmth of Bellamy's arms around her and the steady in and out of his breathing.

. . .

Slowly, Clarke felt sleep give up its hold on her and she blinked her eyes open to be greeted by the sight of Bellamy's chocolate eyes trained on her. They had lost their previous dazed look and Clarke felt a flash of relief that the plant's effects had worn off. Suddenly, both of them seemed to realize that they were just staring into each other's eyes, and they broke their eye contact quickly, pushing themselves up to sitting positions. Frantic not to let the silence grow anymore, Clarke blurted out, "Do you think the fog is gone?"

Without a word, Bellamy stood up and walked over to the mouth of the cave. Reaching out his hand, Clarke realized what he was about to do and shouted, "NO! Don't touch those plants with your skin!"

Seeing the familiar annoyed look he shot her, Clarke explained, "The last time you touched those flowers you acted a little… strange."

Accepting her explanation, though he didn't seem to remember what had happened, Bellamy used his gun to push aside the flowers enough to reveal that the fog had dissipated. "We're clear," he called back to her.

Nodding, Clarke pushed herself up and walked over to join Bellamy at the exit. Using the gun to keep the plants from touching his skin, Bellamy walked out of the cave and left an opening for Clarke to get out of. Before she followed him though, Clarke pulled out a knife she had brought in her pack and cut down some of the flowers. After carefully wrapping them in some of the bandages she brought with her everywhere, Clarke put the flowers in her bag and went out of the cave. Looking over at Bellamy, she saw that his brow had furrowed a little, something he usually did when he was confused, so she explained, "When you were under the effects of these plants, you didn't seem to feel any pain. Hopefully I can use these to create a better painkiller so we don't have to keep using Monty's moonshine."

Nodding his understanding, the pair set off towards camp without another word, both content to walk in silence. Neither wanted or knew how to broach what had happened in the cave and it was apparent they probably would never mention what had happened. But Clarke couldn't help but think that, despite all the complications the day had thrown at her, it had also shown her another side of her co-leader, a side that very rarely, if ever, was allowed into the light of day. He wasn't as tough and ruthless as he liked people to believe, and Clarke couldn't help but be curious about the other sides of Bellamy Blake that he kept from the world.


End file.
